When Skies Fall
by JoyScott13
Summary: Follow the Masons from the day before the ships arrive, to the day Tom and Hal left for the food scout in the pilot. The terror and pain that they face shapes them into the people we have come to know and love. Disaster and death leaves them more dependent on each other than ever before. Sacrifices and drastic decisions have to be made if they don't want to lose everything...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

Tom stared blankly at the pile of papers he still had left to grade. He loved his job, he loved sharing his passion for history with his students, and he loved the feeling of pride as he helped them reach their full potential. He'd always done whatever he could to spark that same interest and passion in his boys, and he knew that to a certain extent he'd succeeded. Ben had always been eager to learn, always asking questions, wanting to know more, and Tom would often catch him researching something they'd discussed days later. Matt was still a little young to be too interested in all the apparently _boring_ details, but Tom usually managed to find a way to make the subject at least a little bit entertaining for his youngest son. Hal was the biggest challenge, always insisting that it was dull and not interesting and that Tom was so_ embarrassing_ for bringing up historical anecdotes in front of his friends. However Tom knew that deep down Hal _was_ interested, and _was _listening; that behind the eye rolls and _whatevers_ was an actual interest in what Tom was saying. It always made him smile when he overheard Hal bringing up those same historical anecdotes with his friends, something that happened more frequently that Hal would ever admit.

The feeling of pride he received from enlightening young minds did nothing, however, to make the thought of grading a seemingly endless pile of papers late on a Thursday night any more appealing. Flicking on the TV, Tom settled on a news channel to use as background noise to help break the tedium.

As Tom finished what felt like the hundredth paper, the start of the next news story began to filter through into his consciousness. The news reader was saying something about NASA, and unusual objects being picked up in space. Just as Tom was focusing on what was being said, the channel was abruptly changed to a baseball game, and Hal collapsed onto the sofa next to him, dropping the remote at his side.

"You weren't watching that, were you?" Hal asked, not taking his eyes from the game. Tom sighed, shaking his head, "I was, but I guess it doesn't matter. I really should be marking these." He gestured at the depressingly large pile of papers.

"Ouch," Hal laughed, "Have fun with that."

"I wouldn't laugh if I was you," Rebecca came to stand behind the sofa, "Have you finished your homework already?" Hal looked up at her and smiled sweetly.

"I'll do it in the morning." He promised.

"You have early morning Lacrosse practice tomorrow Hal and I highly doubt you'll be getting up early enough to get your homework done before then".

"But it's the Red Sox against the Yankees mom, I _have_ to watch it! And I don't have that much homework; I can get it done after." He pleaded, looking up at her beseechingly.

"Fine, but if it isn't finished tonight I will take your car keys for a week. I'm not sure Rita would be too happy about that." Rebecca tried to hold her strict expression, but she couldn't help but smile as the grin on Hal's face from being allowed to watch the game became a little uncertain at the idea of his girlfriend's reaction to having to walk instead of being driven everywhere.

"Mo-om," Matt's whining voice carried from the kitchen, "I'm stuck again."

"I could help him," Tom offered, starting to stand up. Matt hated math class, and was a nightmare when he got stuck on his math homework, but Tom would do anything to put off the grading he had to do.

"No, no, no. You have work to do." Rebecca said pointedly, raising her eyebrows to let Tom know she knew exactly what he was trying to do, before muttering "Sometimes it's like I have four children, all complaining about having to do their homework." Tom sank back into the sofa and reluctantly picked up the next paper.

"Just make sure you get it done tonight Hal." Rebecca ruffled her eldest son's hair as she left the room, mentally preparing herself for the struggle she faced proving to Matt that just because he didn't _like_ something, didn't mean it was impossible. Tom looked at Hal in amusement as he tried to flatten his hair and make it look _cool_ again, before picking up his red pen ready to scrawl all over another student's work. Before he could start he heard feet pounding down the stairs and looked up to see Ben enter the room.

"Dad, can I put a film on?" Ben asked, holding up an anime DVD that he had borrowed from one of his friends. Hal replied before Tom could, "Can't you see I'm watching a game?"

"You had the TV last night; it's only fair that I get it tonight." Ben insisted.

"Yeah well, mom already said I could watch this, so tough luck little brother." Hal's tone was condescending and Tom wondered if he should intervene before this turned into yet another full blown argument.

"You got the TV for hours yesterday, when Rita was here, so it's my turn tonight. Anyway, do you really have to make the rest of us suffer yet another boring basketball game?"

"It's clearly baseball, Ben, and anyway, you can just watch your geeky film in your room on your laptop. You don't need to bother the rest of us with it."

"Boys-" Tom started wearily, but Ben ignored him, "Anyway, shouldn't you be doing that history report due in on Monday. I heard you say you hadn't started it yet!"

"That has nothing to do with this!" Hal snapped, with a quick glance at his father. Tom was usually a fairly laid back parent, letting Rebecca be the strict one, but the one thing he would not tolerate was the boys neglecting their school work, particularly if that school work was history related.

"You haven't started your history report yet?" Tom tried to keep his tone calm, "I thought that's why you went to the library last weekend!"

"He was with Rita." Ben said with a smug smile on his face.

"You snitch!" Hal snapped furiously.

"I still can't believe you bought the _library _excuse, from Hal of all people." Ben laughed.

"Ben, Hal, that's enough." Tom started, stopping Hal from replying and the situation from deteriorating further, "I thought you said you didn't have much homework to do tonight, Hal. That reports due in on Monday, and it's Thursday today. You have a lacrosse game tomorrow night and you know we're going camping this weekend. When were you planning to write this report?" Tom asked a little incredulously.

"I guess I forgot about it." Hal admitted sheepishly, avoiding making eye contact with Tom, hoping he could get out of this without being grounded.

"Go upstairs, start working on it right now. I want you to spend every spare minute you have from now until Monday morning on that report, and I want you to make it the best thing you've ever written."

"But-" Hal started to protest, but stopped when he saw the look on Tom's face. Sighing, he stood up and began to make his way out of the room, turning back when he heard his father say his name.

"I'll need your car keys, just until you get it done." Tom could see Hal wanted to protest, so he added, "For lying about where you were going last weekend. Be thankful it's just your car keys."

With an air of triumph, Ben opened the DVD case and started to walk towards the TV. Hal purposefully knocked into him on his way out of the room, prompting an "Ow!" from Ben. Hal apologised without a drop of sincerity.

"Dumb jock." Ben snapped, rubbing his shoulder.

"Math geek snitch." Hal retorted, fully aware of how childishly he was behaving, but too annoyed to care.

"Hey, you can't fault me for worrying about my big brother's education. I'm just concerned for your future." Ben's tone was earnest, but he couldn't help but smile as Hal shook his head, giving a final "_whatever_" before slouching his way upstairs.

Ben was just about to put the DVD on when Matt came bounding into the room, screaming, "Hal, mom said I could-" he paused for a moment, noticing that Hal wasn't there, before looking from Ben to the disc in his hand. He started again "Ben, mom said I could watch whatever I wanted because I finished my homework and I worked really hard on it."

Ben started to protest, but stopped when he saw Matt's puppy dog eyes.

"Fine! I give up!" Ben dropped the DVD next to the television, "I'll just go read instead." He shrugged off Matt's hug before making his way upstairs.

"I'm giving up too!" Tom declared, as Matt selected a particularly loud show to watch, "There's too much noise in this house tonight for me to get anything else done."

Rebecca came into the room, "I thought you said that these were urgent?" She asked.

"They are, but I can stay late at work tomorrow to finish them off."

Rebecca glanced at Matt, but he seemed to be engrossed in what he was watching rather than listening to his parents' conversation.

In a slightly quieter voice, Rebecca continued, "No you can't. You said you were going to Hal's game tomorrow, remember. You were going to surprise him."

Tom looked a little uneasy, "I know, but I really need to get this done, and my head's all over the place tonight from the boys' arguing. I'll go to the next one, I promise." Rebecca fixed him a pointed look, before sighing and going to the kitchen. Tom followed her at once.

"He won't notice that I'm not there! It's not like I'm breaking a promise to him."

"Of course he'll notice! He asks you almost every week if you're going to be there, and he always checks with me before the game to see if you've managed to make it. Hal's a senior now, he's not going to be at school much longer, there aren't that many more of these games for you to go to, or for you to miss. One day you're going to realise you regret not going, and there'll be nothing you can do about it, and all Hal will remember is the feeling of disappointment." As Rebecca finished her rant, Tom paused to let it sink in. She looked a little apologetically at him, "I just mean that Hal would really appreciate you being there, even though he'd never say so, and I know that in the years to come you'll appreciate the memories too."

"You're right." Tom nodded, "You're always right. I'm sorry. I promise I will go to the next one; I will make sure I'm free. I really do have a lot of work to do tomorrow, but I'll make sure I'm free for the next one. Okay?"

"Okay." Rebecca smiled, pulling Tom into an embrace, "Sorry, I didn't mean to go off the rails at you. I just want what's best for you and Hal."

"I know." Tom smiled back, "And anyway, Hal's in trouble at the moment, so I probably shouldn't make tomorrow the day I surprise him."

"What did he do now?" Rebecca pulled back from the embrace.

"He hasn't started that history report yet. Oh, and he lied about going to the library last weekend." Rebecca looked at him questioningly.

"Where was he really?"

"Rita." Was all Tom offered in response.

"Rita." Rebecca repeated, "Of course."

"Of course." Tom agreed with a small smile.

* * *

Tom shut Ben's bedroom door as quietly as he could. He knew Ben was far too old to have his dad read to him, but Tom had to admit he was happy that Ben didn't mind when it came to the Harry Potter books. He'd always enjoyed reading to Ben the most; Hal had always asked too many questions and got bored if the characters didn't do what he wanted them to do, and Matt complained that reading was too much like school to be fun. Ben was the most intent listener, soaking it all up, and he always asked for Tom to read on just a little bit more. Tonight was the perfect example of that, and Tom had read with Ben for longer than he'd intended too. Even though Tom was fairly certain Ben had read on to the end of the last Harry Potter book, in secret, years ago, he was glad that Ben still let his father read to him. It made him sad to think that they were half way through the seventh book, and that this would be his last opportunity to enjoy such a simple pleasure.

Peeking into Matt's room, Tom was pleased to see that he was sleeping peacefully, his face lit by the gentle glow of the night light. Matt said that he just liked the light, insisting that it was in no way because he was afraid of the dark, because he was far too old to be afraid of the dark, and anyway, neither Hal or Ben were afraid of the dark and Matt just wanted to be like his big brothers. Creeping into the room, Tom brushed Matt's hair away from his face and kissed him on the forehead.

"Have sweet dreams Matty." He whispered before making his way back into the hallway. The next room he came to was Hal's, and noticing the light was on Tom knocked before entering. He found Hal sitting at his desk, typing frantically on his keyboard.

"Hal, it's gone eleven o'clock, you have to be up early tomorrow, you really should get to bed." Officially Hal was old enough not to have a bed time now, but Tom couldn't help but _try_ to enforce a more lenient one.

"I know, but I'm working on that report, and I know I should have done it earlier, and I'm sorry I lied, but I've started now, and I think I'm on a roll." Hal looked at his father as if he wasn't sure how Tom was going to respond.

"Thank you for apologising Hal." Tom started, walking into the room, "You've got time to work on it when you get home tomorrow, and we'll head back slightly earlier on Sunday to make sure you have time to finish it. But you've got a game tomorrow, and an early morning practice, you need to get some rest." Hal nodded, and Tom waited as he shut down his computer. As soon as he stood up, Tom pulled him into a hug.

"Good luck in your game tomorrow, and I'm really sorry I can't be there."

"It's okay dad, we should win it easily anyway."

Pulling back, Tom laughed, "It's good to be confident, but don't be too confident."

"I'm just being honest!" Hal laughed. Tom gave his shoulder a quick squeeze before saying good night and making his way to the room he shared with Rebecca.

"Are the boys all asleep?" Rebecca asked, settling down into the bed.

"More or less," Tom replied with a smile. Switching off the light, Tom climbed into bed beside his wife.

"You remember that pottery class I was telling you about?" Rebecca asked, continuing after Tom nodded "Well, there are a few more spaces, and I thought it might be fun for us to join it together. We're both free on a Wednesday, and Hal could watch his brothers."

"I'm sure he'll love that." Tom laughed.

"But seriously, I've been wanting us to do something like this for ages. It'll be fun. I've already put my name down, all you need to do is sign up online. I could even do it."

"Sure. I'll just double check my work schedule, and then sign up soon."

"You'd better hurry, the spaces are going fast." Rebecca pleaded a little.

"I should be free. No, I'll make sure I am. You can sign me up tomorrow once the boys have left for school and you've got some peace and quiet."

"Thank you." Rebecca smiled, cuddling closer to her husband, "I know you're not convinced, but it _will_ be fun. And a chance for us to spend some time together, without the boys."

"Now that I do like the sound of." Tom laughed again, "I'm sorry it seems like I'm working all the time. It's a busy time of year, and the Dean's position might be opening up soon. I need to make a good impression."

"I know, it's just recently it feels like it would take the end of the world as we know it for you to spend a little more time with your family. I miss you."

"I'm sorry. I'll try to be home more, I promise. I love you and the boys more than anything, and if I could I'd spend every waking hour with you, you know that."

"I do." Rebecca smiled as Tom wrapped his arms around her.

"And you know full well that I'd rather live through an apocalypse then grade any more papers or attend any more meetings. I'd take battling zombies over another meeting with the board any day."

* * *

A/N: This is my first attempt at a Falling Skies fic, so please be kind! I haven't written fanfiction in years, but I love this show so much I didn't have much of a chouce but to start again :)

I've had this fic in my mind more or less ever since I watched the pilot... but I finally made myself go for it!

In order to write this I re-watched all of Falling Skies (such a hardship, I know) and meticulously recorded every mention of the Mason's lives before the invasion, and every mention of the invasion - I'm going to make this as accurate as possible, and any inconsistencies I came across I tried to work into the story...

I love the Masons so much, it was so much fun to write this, and I hope you enjoyed this too :)

I'm going to be uploading the first three chapters today, and then I'll do my best to upload regularly :)

I'm English, so I'm sorry if anything I've written sounds too English - you have no idea how hard it was for me to type "Mom" and "Math class" and "SMS" haha :)

I've got a few more Falling Skies fic ideas that I'll be working on once this one is properly underway :)

(Anyone reading this who followed me after my discontinued Merlin story: 'Pendragon's Legacy', I'm really sorry that I never finished that, but my life exploded and I lost any passion for it. I will not let that happen with this fic, I promise!)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

The first indication Tom had that something unusual was going on was the sudden increase in noise and commotion from outside his lecture room. He was about halfway through his last lecture before lunch, and at this time of day the halls were normally quiet. Nevertheless, Tom continued with his lecture, speaking a little louder to prevent the outside noise from drowning him out. It wasn't long before he noticed the incessant buzzing of his phone in his pocket, and the fact that it seemed that most of his student's phones were ringing too. Normally he'd be annoyed that so many students had their phones switched on in his class, but something seemed off this time. Pausing for a moment, Tom took out his phone and checked the caller ID; Rebecca. Tom frowned, knowing that she had a copy of his timetable clipped to the fridge so she would know that he was in the middle of a lecture. Just as he was weighing up whether or not he should answer the phone to see what was wrong, one of his students called out, "Professor, I think we should look outside. Apparently there's something weird in the sky!" Tom's phone buzzed again, and this time he saw a SMS from Rebecca, which simply read: 'Have you seen it? I don't know what to do. Please answer your phone.'

"Okay, let's all go outside to see what's going on." Tom announced, "But if it's just some prank I'll need everyone to come straight back here, this is an important lecture for your exams, and we'll carry on a little into lunch, okay?" His announcement was met by a few groans, but most of his students just seemed intrigued about what was going on outside. Tom waited for the last of them to trickle out, before he followed them into the hall. People were crammed by the windows, some shouting, many of them desperately speaking into their phones. Tom's was ringing again, but he ignored it for now. He still needed to see what was going on. Spotting Tom, and recognising him as a professor, many of the students moved out of the way so that Tom managed to get a clear view out of the window.

"Oh my god." He couldn't help but exclaim. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it hadn't been this. Hovering over central Boston was some sort of ship… some sort of space ship… not moving, not attacking, not waving a white flag of good intention… just hovering above the city. The news story he'd half listened to the night before flickered in the back of his mind.

"What's going on Professor?" one of his students asked him, confusion and fear clear on her face.

"I have no idea, I wish I did. I think-" Tom paused as the Dean's voice was broadcast over the PA system, advising everyone to return to their homes if they lived in Boston, or to go to the main canteen to await further instructions if they lived on campus, and that the senior management and site staff would meet them there. For once Tom was glad he'd never been promoted to the senior management team. Noticing that none of the students around him seemed to be moving, Tom raised his voice so that he could be heard throughout the hall way.

"Stay calm, don't panic, I'm sure everything will be explained in time. It's probably just a prank or some kind. Just stay calm, and stick together, and follow the Dean's instructions." Once they started to disperse, Tom returned the now empty lecture room, and finally answered his phone.

"Tom? Thank god, you wouldn't answer, and I kept trying, and then Hal and Ben wouldn't answer, and Matt's school's phone was engaged, and I didn't know what to do. What is that thing?" Tom could hear the stress in Rebecca's voice, and knew she'd been working herself up into a panic. He felt a little guilty that he hadn't answered his phone sooner.

"Rebecca, sweetheart, slow down. Calm down. Everything's okay."

"Okay?! Have you seen that thing? And Hal and Ben aren't answering, why aren't they answering? Hal's just rings like yours did, and Ben's goes straight to voicemail." Rebecca was clearly still panicking, not that Tom could really blame her.

"Just slow down and listen to me. Everyone's panicking about this thing in the sky, but for now it doesn't seem to be doing anything but hovering. Hal and Ben are at school, their phones are probably switched off or on silent mode. But they are fine, there's no reason for them not to be fine. Okay?"

"Okay." Her voice was quiet on the other end of the phone, but she sounded calmer.

"I'm heading home now, I'll be there soon. You keep trying to get through to Hal, I'll try Ben, although I'm sure they're together. Tell them to head home, carefully, together. You go to Matt's school, and bring him home. Once we're all home together this won't seem as scary, and we can wait to see what's happening. Just stay calm."

"Okay. Just get home safely, okay?"

"You too. I'll see you at home with the boys. I love you."

"I love you too." Tom just stood there in silence for a moment after the phone went dead. Now that he'd sorted out his immediate plan of action, the truth of the situation was starting to hit home. They could all be in very real danger, and there was no way of knowing what would happen next.

* * *

It hadn't been long after the spaceship, or whatever it was, had appeared in the sky that the Principal had made the announcement that school was cancelled for the day, and that they should all head home to await further information. Rita had been slightly hysterical, and Hal had waited with her until she made contact with her father, who was apparently already on his way to the school to make sure his daughter got home safely. Once he was sure she was okay, Hal had begun his search for his brother. The halls were packed with panicked people, ignoring their teachers requests for calm, and it had taken Hal longer than he expected to fight his way to Ben's locker. Thankfully he'd found his brother there, and Hal had been unable to suppress a smile at the sight of Ben packing his bag full of his school books, even on the day that school was cancelled in due to the arrival of an alien spaceship.

Once it had finally occurred to the boys to check their own phones, they managed to make contact with their parents. At first Tom and Rebecca had been insistent that Hal and Ben should head straight home, but they had convinced them that they should meet their mom at Matt's school, as it was only slightly out of the way on their walk home, and that Matt was probably scared and they were the closest to him.

"This would be so much easier if you had your car!" Ben complained as he and Hal struggled to make their way through the packed streets. Everyone was desperately trying to get to their loved ones, or to get home, and the streets were packed. The cars on the roads, however, were mostly driving as they usually would; if anything a few drivers were being _more _careful now.

"Well, we both know whose fault it is that dad took my keys, don't we!" Hal snapped, more out of habit than because he was actually annoyed.

"Yeah, yours for lying to mom and dad." Ben wasn't really sure why he was trying to start a fight with Hal, given the current situation, but arguing with Hal felt normal, and right now anything normal felt pretty good.

"Dad wouldn't have found out-" Hal started, before glancing up at the ship in the sky, and deciding not to bother, "Whatever." Ben followed his older brother's gaze and decided to just leave it at that.

Matt's school was almost more chaotic than theirs had been, with frantic parents desperately trying to get to their children. Following directions given by frazzled looking teachers, Hal and Ben made their way to the school gym where the kids had been gathered together.

"Do you think mom's here yet?" Ben asked, craning his head to look for her.

"Doubt it." Was all Hal responded as they entered the crowded gym, "Can you see Matt?"

Ben laughed a little, "He's so small, how are we ever going to spot him?"

"HAL! BEN!" Matt screamed from a little way behind them.

"I think he spotted us." Hal said as he turned to towards the sound of Matt's voice. Matt to threw his arms around his oldest brother with so much force that he made him stumble backwards. Hal hugged him back quickly, before pulling away and asking "Are you okay buddy?"

Matt paused for a second, giving his brothers a cautious look, before he started to speak, his words coming out in a jumbled rush. "That spaceship arrived and James said it was definitely aliens and that they were going to eat us like in a film he saw. Sarah started crying and Mrs Blake got cross. And then I was waiting here and it felt like ages but no one came and I thought no one was coming for me and then I got really scared and-" Matt paused to take a breath, and Ben seized the chance to interrupt his flow.

"We're here Matt, and mom's on her way. We just need to meet her, and then we'll all go home and wait for dad." Ben soothed, trying to sound as sure and confident as he could, despite the fact that he was in no way feeling sure or confident.

"Yeah squirt, nothing to worry about." Hal added with a smile, ruffling Matt's hair.

"I wasn't worried." Matt said quickly, "Or scared. Not really." Hal and Ben exchanged a smile over Matt's head; Matt always tried so hard to act like his brothers, and did his best to never let them think he was scared of anything.

"Course you weren't." Hal replied, glancing around the gym, checking to see if Rebecca had arrived while they were talking, "Let's head outside and find mom."

* * *

Rebecca hadn't tried to park in the school's parking lot. Instead, she'd found a space down a side street nearby. As she walked the short distance to the school she couldn't help but worry that something had happened to her boys. She knew it was stupid: nothing had actually happened, except that an unexplained object had appeared in the sky. There had been no fighting, no real threat, but she couldn't shake the fear. From the brief look she'd had at the news before she left home, Boston wasn't the only city in the world to have received an unexpected visitor, and no one seemed to have a clue what was going on. She was staring at the ship when she heard Matt's cry of "mom!" and looked up to see him hurtling towards her, his brothers close behind. As soon as they were close enough she pulled all three of her sons into an embrace, letting out a massive sigh of relief. They were safe, her boys were safe. For now.

"Are you okay mom?" Matt asked, his voice sounding a little muffled from how he was squashed in the middle of the hug.

"Of course I am, we're together now. There's nothing to worry about." Rebecca stated confidently, but the fact that she was still gripping her sons tightly showed that she had been worried, and still was.

"Mom," Ben started a minute or so later, "You might want to let us go so we can get home and find dad." Rebecca gave a slightly embarrassed laugh before releasing her sons.

"Sorry, I guess I was just relieved to see you all." She studied each of their faces for a second, as if to reassure herself that they were okay, before her eyes were drawn to the ominous ship in the sky, and she couldn't help but shiver. "Let's go home and wait for your father."

* * *

As soon as Tom walked through his front door he was almost tackled to the ground by his youngest son.

"It's good to see you too Matt." Tom smiled, feeling an unexpected sense of relief to have come home to find his family safe. He found the rest of them sat around the TV, listening so intently that they hardly looked up to greet him. Normally Tom would have been surprised to see Hal and Ben so engrossed in the news, but he supposed it shouldn't come as a shock given today's events. Tom and Rebecca exchanged a brief look that conveyed their relief that their family was home safe, and all their fears about the situation, before Rebecca gestured for Tom to sit with them.

"President Hathaway's about to make a speech." She explained. Tom quickly settled on the sofa between Hal and Ben, and let Matt climb unto his lap. On a normal day Matt would be complaining that they were being too boring, just watching the news, but today he sensed that this was important enough for him to stay quiet.

The president's speech was brief, and he refused to answer any questions. He urged everyone to remain at home, and not to make any journeys unless they were strictly necessary, and to ensure they checked the news stations for any updates. He stated that the government was assessing the situation in conjunction with governments from around the world, and that every attempt to make contact with these visitors was being made. He urged that while this situation was very real and should be taken seriously, there was no need for panic as there has been no sign of aggression, although Tom couldn't help but hear the _yet_ missing from the end of that sentence. All air traffic, other than that of any official and important state business, was being grounded until further notice. His speech ended with an additional request for calm, and for everyone to remain in their homes until more information could be gathered about exactly what was going on.

"Well, it's a good thing I did a food shop yesterday then, isn't it?" Rebecca said as brightly as she could.

"So, there's nothing to worry about?" Matt asked hopefully, "We just get to start the weekend early?"

"Exactly. Nothing to worry about." Tom smiled, but his eyes were concerned as they met Rebecca's across the room.

"Awesome. A break from school work." Hal was grinning, relaxing back into the sofa.

"Not for you." Tom turned to look at him, "This gives you the perfect opportunity to finish that history report, don't you think?" Hal just stared at him for a moment.

"You can't be serious!" he protested, sitting upright again.

"I'm deadly serious. Now you can spend the time on it you were supposed to last weekend."

"Might as well start now, get it finished sooner." Rebecca added, with a kind yet strict smile. With a dramatic sigh Hal made his way out of the room, grumbling that "It's so unfair. Aliens arrive and I _still_ have to do this stupid report. It just so unfair." Tom and Rebecca's eyes met again, and they laughed.

"Have fun!" Ben called after his brother. He responded to his mother's raised eyebrows with a shrug and an overly innocent "What?"

"I'm bored." Matt stated, as though the arrival of an unexplained alien ship had already become uninteresting to him. He jumped up and stood in front of his father expectantly, waiting to be entertained.

"We do have some time to kill." Tom mused, before suggesting, "We haven't played monopoly in a while?"

"I'll get the board!" Matt cried excitedly, running from the room. Suddenly the phone began to ring, making them all jump.

"It's probably my parents again, they phoned earlier." Rebecca stood up, walking towards the phone, "They want to travel up to be with us."

"Is that safe?" Tom asked, "I agree with the president, I think we're all safer just staying home and staying safe and avoiding trouble."

"I know, I'll tell them." She replied sadly, before answering the phone and walking into the kitchen.

"Dad, it's all going to be okay, right?" Ben asked, surprising Tom with the intensity of his voice, "I mean, what do you think those things are?" Tom paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer. All he wanted was to be able to reassure Ben that of course everything was going to be okay, but he wasn't sure if that was the truth or not, and Ben was old enough not to be lied to about things like this.

"If I'm honest, Ben, I don't know. I really hope so, but I don't know. There's no sign of danger yet, so we can only hope. All that matters now is that we're together and we're safe. As long as that's true, then I think we're going to be just fine." Tom put all his belief behind his words. He truly believed that as long as he had his family with him and safe, things would be okay, and he couldn't envision a world where that wasn't the case.

"I want to play as the dog counter!" Matt shouted, running back into the room with the monopoly board, "And Ben's the banker, I decided."

"Thanks dad." Ben said quietly with a small smile, before turning to Matt and joining in his light hearted monopoly chatter. Rebecca followed Matt into the room, with a bemused smile on her face. Tom looked at her questioningly.

"That was Julian's mom on the phone. She wanted to know if Hal was going to the lacrosse game tonight, and if it was still on, especially after what the president said." Rebecca couldn't help but laugh.

"Really?" For as long as Hal had been friends with Julian, Tom and Rebecca had been perplexed and frustrated by his mother. She was always late to everything, and extremely forgetful, but this seemed a little too incredulous, even for her.

"Really." Rebecca confirmed.

"Some people." Tom laughed and Rebecca nodded in agreement.

"Mo-om, da-ad, you need to pick a counter." Matt whined, eager to start. Tom and Rebecca turned back to their younger sons, and settled down for a traditional Mason afternoon of Monopoly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

The next day it almost felt like everything had gone back to normal. The only thing that suggested otherwise was the eerie silence on the streets, and the absence of planes weaving their way through the sky. And of course the mysterious ship hovering, unmoving, over central Boston. Rebecca caught herself more than once smiling because she had Tom home for the weekend, without any work to distract him. She immediately felt guilty for feeling happy, when the wider situation was still potentially so serious. But her family were together and safe, and she couldn't help the feeling of contentment that came with that.

Tom had cooked Saturday breakfast for his family, like he often did, hoping that it would help to keep Matt feeling calm and normal. They'd played monopoly until even Matt was bored of it, and by Saturday evening they'd been through every board game they had.

"Be-en," Matt whined again, "Please, please, please come play with me. We could play catch or _anything_. I'm bored!"

"I'm reading." Ben responded for the hundredth time.

"Hal would play with me if I asked him." Matt insisted, hoping this would work to make Ben agree. It didn't.

"Then go ask Hal." Ben didn't look away from his book.

"Hal's still doing homework. Please Ben?" Matt pleaded, using his best puppy dog eyes. He waited a moment, and when Ben still didn't look up Matt's expression became decidedly sulkier.

"Well, you're just boring and rubbish." Matt told Ben, before collapsing on the sofa dramatically, and crossing his arms to exaggerate the fact that he was not happy.

"You got that right buddy, Ben's the most boring and rubbish of them all." Hal replied with a laugh as he entered the room holding a few sheets of paper. He tousled Matt's hair, before asking, "Where's dad?"

"In the kitchen, jerk." Ben answered, still not moving his eyes from his book.

Hal found his father in the kitchen, having a quiet conversation with Rebecca. He could tell from their expressions that they were talking about something serious, most probably the ship in the sky, and he considered walking out and not interrupting them. Before he could decide, they noticed his presence and stopped their conversation abruptly.

"Is everything okay?" Tom asked, rubbing his eyes; Hal could see that both his parents were feeling very stressed, despite how hard they were trying to act like everything was fine. But Hal had always been good at pretending everything was okay and making bad situations less so by just ignoring them to the best of his ability.

"I finally finished that report!" He smiled, waving the printed sheets in his hand. Tom was out of his chair in an instant, all traces of stress temporarily erased.

"Let me see that." Tom almost snatched the report from his son's hand in his eagerness to read it through. Hal found himself feeling a little anxious as he waited for to hear his father's opinion. He'd put a lot more effort into this than he usually did; it had been easier to forget what was going on when he focused the report. As he'd actually worked hard on this, he really wanted his father to approve of it. The sound of Matt and Ben starting to argue again wafted through from the living room, and Rebecca got up with a weary sigh. She gave Hal an encouraging smile, before making her way to see what her younger sons were fighting about.

Sighing, Tom looked up from the last page of Hal's report. Hal held his breath for a moment, before his father smiled, "This is great Hal, really good work!"

Hal couldn't help but grin back, "Really?"

"Really. I'm proud of you." Tom's tone was enthusiastic. It had been clear to him that Hal had actually tried with this report, and that was all Tom had ever wanted from his eldest son when it came to his school work. And on top of that, it was actually a good piece of work. Hal's grin grew a little wider.

"Thanks dad." He muttered before looking away from his father, feeling slightly embarrassed. His eyes were drawn straight to the ship in the sky, and his grin faded.

"Not that it matters anymore. Who knows what's going to happen now." Hal's tone was dejected, and Tom felt his own smile disappear as he followed his son's gaze. He shook his head, placing his hands on Hal's shoulders, recapturing his attention.

"Of course it matters. Learning still matters. Putting effort into what you do still matters. Nothing will ever change that. Okay?" Tom finished, giving Hal a little shake, before dropping his hands back to this side. Hal nodded in response, still looking unsure. Tom was about to try to reassure his son further, when Matt came running in.

"Hal, Hal, Hal, mom said you finished your homework! Will you play catch with me?" He begged, resorting to his puppy dog eyes on his first attempt at asking. Instantly Hal's face changed from uncertain to completely care free, and he smiled, "Of course buddy, we need to work on your technique."

"Yes! You're the best! Ben's being boring _again_! I'll go get the sticks!" Matt rushed off grinning. Hal waited until Matt was out of sight, and then his expression fell a little again. Tom felt another rush of pride at seeing Hal put on a brave face around Matt, to keep him from worrying, even though he wished Hal wasn't in a situation where he had to do that. Tom handed him back his report, and Hal mumbled a thanks before turning towards to garden.

"Hal, I really am proud of you." Tom said, his voice swelling with emotion.

"I know dad," he said with a roll of his eyes but as he walked away he couldn't help but smile. Tom shook his head, before almost being knocked over by Matt, who ran past him holding two lacrosse sticks. Tom called after him, scolding him for not watching where he was going.

In the living room Tom found Rebecca sitting staring into space, and Ben still reading. He really wanted to talk to Rebecca alone, to finish the conversation that Hal had interrupted, but he didn't want Ben to overhear what they were saying and worry.

"Why don't you go and play with your brothers, Ben?" Tom suggested, sitting down next to his wife.

"I'm reading." Ben answered with a shrug, "And anyway, they're just throwing a ball around. It's hardly fun."

"I know Matt would love it if you joined them, and I'm sure you'd have fun." Tom continued, "Your book will still be there later." Tom's tone made it clear that he wanted Ben to go outside with his brothers. Ben looked up and glanced between his parents, sensing that they wanted to be alone to talk.

"Fine," Ben sighed, "but if I die of boredom, you'll be to blame."

Tom waited until he heard the back door close behind Ben, before he turned to Rebecca, who started to speak.

"I checked the news just now, before you came in, and there was nothing new, other than that the President will be making another announcement at some point tomorrow. But there's been no change, none of the ships have moved, nothing's happened." Rebecca informed him quickly, speaking much faster than she usually did.

"It doesn't make any sense. Why would these ships appear in the sky one day, and then not try to make contact. I mean they haven't even attacked us! Just nothing!" Tom ran his fingers through his hair.

Rebecca shook her head, "I don't know, maybe they want to unnerve us? Put us on edge?" She laughed a little, "We don't even know what those things are!"

Tom nodded in agreement, before sighing, "I'm just worried about what's going to happen. This feels more like something out of a film than our real lives. It's crazy!"

"What do we do if they do mean us harm? If they attack? I don't want any of this for our boys!" Rebecca could feel tears welling in her eyes, and she fought to stop them from falling, "I just want them to be happy! I want them to do well at school and go on to college. I want them to get everything they deserve from their lives. And I just have this terrible feeling that something bad is coming, that these ships would have made contact by now if they were peaceful. I hate feeling this confused and helpless. I just want our boys to be _happy_." Rebecca's voice broke, and Tom pulled her close.

"They will be, they _have_ to be. They've got you, haven't they, the most kind and caring mother in the world. What more could they need?" Rebecca laughed a little, and Tom smiled before continuing, "Nothing has actually happened, not really. And we're together. I for one know that as long as the boys are safe, and as long as I've got you, I can get through anything." Rebecca pulled out of the embrace and gave Tom a tender kiss.

"I love you, Tom Mason, where would I be without you?"

* * *

24 hours later, and the situation still hadn't changed at all. Tom and Rebecca were watching a news channel, anxiously waiting for the president's announcement, hoping against hope that it would be good news. Matt was playing something on his PSP, his headphones in, completely unaware of anything that was happening around him. Ben was half reading, half listening to the news to find out what was going on. Hal was in the kitchen on the phone to Rita; she'd not been answering his calls since he'd said goodbye to her at school, and he'd been worrying.

Hal came back into the room, looking despondent. Rebecca picked up on it immediately, and asked what was wrong.

"She said she was too busy to talk for long," Hal explained, "I think she was annoyed at me for not waiting with her on Friday until her dad got there. I waited until I knew he was coming for her, I knew she was okay. But I had to find Ben, and get to Matt." He added, trying to justify himself.

"You did the right thing Hal." Rebecca assured him.

"Rita was just scared, she'll come around." Tom agreed.

"She's a spoilt control freak." Ben muttered under his breath. As much as he'd never admit it, he didn't like how Rita treated Hal sometimes.

"What?" Hal asked him, not quite catching what he said.

"Nothing." Ben replied quickly, knowing it wouldn't go down well if Hal heard what he'd actually said.

"It'll be fine Hal." Rebecca added, taking Hal's attention away from Ben. Just then the news reader announced that they were going live to the President's news conference, and the four oldest Masons all diverted their attention to the television screen. Matt paused his game, but kept his headphones in so no one would realise that he was listening.

President Hathaway's tone was as calm and reassuring as it had been first time. He reported that they had unfortunately been unable to make contact with these visitors, but also that they had received no threats or signs of negative intentions towards us. He stated that as there was no sign that these visitors were our enemies, and while there was still a high probability of peace, the world's leaders had come to an agreement that we would not be attacking the ships with nuclear weapons. Any force on our part would be reactive; we would not be the aggressor. For the time being all non-essential air traffic was to remain grounded. However, President Hathaway finished his speech by saying that this cannot be allowed to halt our daily lives any further, that we can't stop normal life indefinitely; as such, starting tomorrow all schools and places of work would be reopened. Normal daily life would be resumed. He gave one final urge for people to be cautious, but stressed that there was no need for panic. As the news readers began to discuss what the president had said, Tom switched the television off.

"Well, it's a good thing we made you all finish your homework then, isn't it?" He said with a smile. He felt relieved that things were going back to normal, relieved that they weren't going to be confined to their home for another day; he wasn't sure that Matt could cope with being cooped up much longer. But he couldn't quite shake the feeling that it wasn't all over yet. The ships hadn't left; the danger wasn't gone. Nevertheless, he continued to smile as Hal groaned and Matt ripped his headphones out.

"You mean we have to go to school tomorrow? We only got Friday afternoon off? What about the aliens? They're still here, aren't they?" Matt's tone was shocked.

"They are, but the President's right. We can't let it stop us living our normal lives, can we?"

"But we don't even get Monday off school?" Matt whined, "That is _so_ unfair!"

"I thought you were getting bored stuck at home?" Ben commented, thinking about how many times over the last two days Matt had complained that he was bored and there was nothing to do.

"Well, I didn't mean I wanted to go to school." Matt complained, "I thought when aliens came it was supposed to be exciting! Things were supposed to happen; we weren't just supposed to carry on with school and homework! This is rubbish!" Matt sighed dramatically to emphasise his point.

"Be careful what you wish for, Matty." Hal laughed. When Rebecca and Tom's eyes met across the room they were deadly serious; the last thing they wanted was for the arrival of the ships to become _exciting_. Excitement in this case would likely bring danger.

* * *

Hal grinned as he high-fived his team mates. It was four days later, and the ship in the sky had almost become a usual feature. People weren't discussing it as much anymore, and even the newspapers had moved on to other things; it really felt like life was getting back to normal. His cancelled lacrosse game had been rescheduled, and as Hal had predicted they were currently thrashing the other team; Hal had just scored his second goal. Looking into the crowd, he spotted his mom and Matt in the stands, waving and cheering, and he waved back at them. Part of him wished that his dad and Ben were there too. Tom had been very apologetic, explaining that after all that had happened he had so much work to catch up on; then again, Tom was always very apologetic when it came to missing lacrosse games, Hal thought a little bitterly. He loved it when his dad was there to support him; he loved knowing that both of his parents were proud of him for excelling at something he enjoyed. Ben was at his friend Nick's house, working on some science project, but Hal didn't mind that much. He knew Ben wasn't really a fan of lacrosse, and on the odd occasion he was dragged to a game he would just sit there and read. Hal still wasn't quite sure how Ben had convinced their parents to let him go to a friend's house; both Tom and Rebecca were still very concerned about the situation, and hardly let the boys out of sight apart from for school. Ben had explained that he needed to work on his science project with Nick, his lab partner, and that it was very important for his school performance. Eventually Tom had agreed, after Ben had used several of his own arguments about the importance of school work and learning against him. Rita also wasn't there, although Hal wasn't that surprised; she'd been a little cold to him since last Friday and he had no idea why. He also wasn't quite sure why he didn't seem to mind that much.

"Mom, when I grow up do you think I'll be as good as Hal at lacrosse?" Matt asked eagerly, his face shining. Rebecca smiled at him, "Of course you will, especially with all the training he's been giving you recently." Matt grinned at her, and turned back to the game.

"Do you think he'll score again?" Matt asked, his tone excited.

"Maybe, we'll see." Rebecca replied, before noticing that Matt was shivering a little. "Are you cold?"

"Just a little."

"I told you to bring your scarf; did you leave it in the car or at home?" She asked sternly; Matt hated wearing his scarf, for some unexplained reason, but he always got cold without it. Rebecca found it very frustrating.

"I'm not sure, maybe at home?" Matt replied, his tone cautious, like he knew what his mother was going to say next.

"I _told_ you to bring it! You'll catch a cold if you're not more careful, and then-" Rebecca's sentence was cut off abruptly as she shielded her eyes from a blinding bright white light. She heard a few screams around her, and Matt suddenly gripped on to her tightly. She used her free arm to hold him close. As quickly as it had come, the light faded, and with it the lights on the pitch, and the electronic score board. The street lights in the distance disappeared too. After the intensity of the bright light, the sudden darkness was blinding, and Rebecca could hardly see anything, other than the outline of the ship in the sky.

"Mom, what's happening?" Matt asked, in a frightened small voice.

"I don't know sweetheart," was all she could manage in reply.

"It came from the ship!" Someone close behind her called out, and there were a few more panicked shouts. Then, the ship slowly began to descend. Its sudden movement, after almost a week of remaining stationary, was met by shocked gasps from the people watching. Everyone seemed transfixed and rooted to the spot. The ship made contact with the ground with a resounding crash, and Rebecca was sure it must have crushed some buildings near the water front. People must have been hurt, even killed.

Then, seemingly hundreds of lights started to pour out of the landed ship, travelling in every direction. Rebecca could only stare in confusion, unable to process what was happening.

Everything was deadly still, until the first explosion. Then the screaming began.

* * *

So that's today's upload :) I hope you enjoyed these chapters, and I'll upload more soon :) Please review and let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

"Hal!" Rebecca shouted her son's name again as she fought her way through the crowd, clutching Matt tightly to her side. It was so dark; she could hardly see where she was going. Everyone was panicking, screaming and shouting, desperately trying to find their sons on the pitch, or make their way to their cars. The lights in the sky, the ships, still flew overhead, and the ground trembled with the impact of explosions not too far away. Rebecca could feel the panic and fear rising and she fought to push it down, to stay strong for Matt, who was crying and flinching with the sound of each explosion. She just wanted to find Hal, to get him and Matt to safety and then she could stop to worry about Ben and Tom. But as the ground shook with the force of another explosion, the closest one yet, Rebecca couldn't help but feel that all her worst fears had come true.

"Hal!" She called again, her tone growing more and more desperate. Matt was shaking as she dragged him along beside her. They'd reached the field now, as had most of the other frantic parents. It was almost impossible to look for Hal through the swarming crowd. Matt whimpered as one of the ships flew close overhead, and set off another explosion, just a street or two away. Rebecca clutched him tightly, wishing there was anything that she could do or say to reassure him.

"Mom!" Suddenly Hal was there, terror written clearly across his face. Rebecca pulled him into an embrace, holding onto both of her sons with all her strength. They were surrounded by people panicking and screaming, and they could hear explosions from all over the city, but just for now Rebecca had two of her sons safely with her. Reluctantly she released them, although she still held Matt close and kept her hand firmly on Hal's arm. She would not let either of them get pulled away from her by the crowd.

"What are we going to do?" Hal asked, having to shout to be heard over the crowd. His eyes were wide with panic, and Rebecca just wanted to sooth him and tell him that it was all going to be okay. But she couldn't do that. Instead she replied that they needed to get to the car so that they could get home to find Tom and Ben. As they made their way to the parking lot Rebecca kept a firm grip on both of her sons. It was chaos, people barging into each other, screaming and shouting, and constant barrage of explosions and ships overhead. As they got closer, Rebecca thought she heard a few people shouting that their cars wouldn't start, and she felt another rush of panic welling up inside her.

Sure enough, when they finally reached their car, it wouldn't start. The thought of having to walk home through the panicked streets, in the middle of an alien attack filled Rebecca with terror. She wished Tom was here to take charge of the situation; she wished Ben was with them so she could see that he was safe and well. She wished none of this was happening and that the last week or so had all been a bad dream.

"We have to walk?" Matt asked, his voice quivering with fear, "I don't want to. Maybe we could hide somewhere here?"

"It'll be fine buddy. It's just like one of your video games." Hal replied, trying to sound normal and upbeat, but his voice lacked its usual confidence.

"We'll be together," Rebecca added, "And once we're home we can wait for your dad and Ben." Matt nodded, still looking petrified, before taking Rebecca's hand for comfort. Rebecca took hold of Hal's hand too, and for once he didn't complain.

"Stay close, and do not let go." She instructed them firmly, "We'll be fine." Just as she finished speaking the ground shook with another explosion, from very close by. Trying to calm the sheer terror and panic that was threatening to burst out of her, Rebecca began to lead her sons away from the school and towards home.

Their progress was slow, but the closer they got to home the further away the explosions seemed to be, and the streets became less and less crowded. The attack seemed to be more focused on central Boston, and other key areas, rather than in the more residential areas, and Rebecca couldn't help but feel a little bit relieved. When they were only a few streets away from home Matt pointed to the sky, and they all looked up, pausing briefly, to see that military planes and helicopters were waging an air battle with the alien ships.

"Yes!" Matt shouted excitedly, "They'll beat them easily!" His face didn't look as fearful as it had, and a part of him was excited by the fight that was going on in the sky. Rebecca and Hal exchanged a look of worry; they could clearly see that the military planes were vastly inferior to the alien ships and as such were losing the fight.

"Come on, we can't stop." Rebecca said, dragging her boys on. They were so close to their house, but they still had a little way to go, and Rebecca could feel the desperation inside her growing, and she struggled to suppress it. She had to be strong for her boys; once she was home, and with Tom, she could let herself panic. But not now.

Matt was still eagerly watching the sky, feeling both fascinated and terrified by what he saw. This was all just like in the video games he played or the movies that he was technically too young to have seen, although it had never felt this real or this frightening on his television screen. He was certain that the military planes would defeat the alien ships and everything would go back to normal, and that his parents would stop having hushed conversations and looking so worried all the time. He couldn't imagine how this would end any other way than the ships going away defeated and normal life resuming.

Suddenly he saw a plane flying overhead be hit by a ball of light fired by an alien ship. It started to fall from the sky at an alarming speed, and Matt stopped dead in his tracks.

"Mom!" he shouted, not being able to look away from the falling plane. Noticing just too late, Hal moved to protect Matt, throwing himself in front of his brother. The plane crashed into the end of the street, exploding in a ball of fire, debris flying everywhere. Rebecca's hand was torn from Matt's as the three of them were knocked off their feet, and then her head hit the ground and everything went black.

...

The military's attempt to stop the alien attack was failing dismally, and all Ben could do was watch as more and more planes were shot down, without so much as damaging a single alien ship.

"This is so _cool_!" Nick said, and Ben looked at him in confusion.

"How is any of this cool?" he asked, "People are dying, this is serious!"

"But _aliens_." Nick insisted, "You have to admit that being a witness to an alien attack is pretty awesome!" Ben just shook his head. Clearly none of this felt real to his friend, and Ben knew that Nick couldn't understand what Ben was worrying about. His little sister and both of his parents had been home when the attack started. Ben wasn't really worried about himself; the area around Nick's house had been more or less untouched. He was worried about his family, and for the first time in his life he was wishing desperately that he'd gone to Hal's stupid lacrosse game. At least then he'd be with most of his family, and not stuck here with no way of knowing whether or not they were okay. But of course they were okay, he told himself, they had to be. He just wished there was a way he could know for sure.

Ben was pulled away from his thoughts as something exploded not far from Nick's house, and Nick paled as it all suddenly seemed that much closer and more real. There were similar explosions occurring all over the city, planes crashing down, and Ben knew that his family were all stranded out there somewhere.

"Boys, come away from that window." Nick's mother was suddenly behind them, her face pinched with worry.

"I need to go," Ben announced, deciding as he spoke that he needed to go home to find his family. He wanted to be with them.

"You can't go outside!" Nick's mother was shocked, "It's too dangerous!"

"I need to find my family," Ben insisted, "They're out there somewhere and I need to find them." He started to walk towards the door, stopping only when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It's too dangerous," Nick's father's said, his face grave. He continued when he saw that Ben was about to protest, "You'll just get yourself hurt, and that won't do your family any good. You know your parents would want you to be safe, no matter what." As much as he wanted to argue, Ben knew that he had a point, and he lost his determination.

"And they know you're here, when this all dies down either they'll come to get you, or we'll take you to find them. Once it's safe, I promise we will." Nick's mother said before pulling Ben into a hug and whispering, "I'm sure they're fine." Normally Ben would have found being hugged by Nick's mother really weird, but today he was glad of the comfort. He let himself be guided away from the front door and onto the sofa.

"We just have to wait this out, okay?" Nick's father tried to smile reassuringly, "I'm sure this will all be over soon." The sound of another close explosion made Nick's little sister Anna scream, and Nick pulled her onto his lap, murmuring calming words. Anna was about Matt's age, and watching them made Ben worry about his family even more. He knew that Matt must be terrified, and wished he could be there to look after him. He knew that Matt was with Hal and their mom, and that they would all be looking out for each other, but he wished he was with them. He was worried about his dad, who'd been working late, and would have been on his own when the attack started.

The sound of yet another explosion nearby made Ben jump, and as he watched Nick comforting Anna, a little part of him wished he had his big brother there to comfort him too.

...

Tom had already been part of the way home when the attack started. His car had died, and he'd been forced to join the crowds of people walking through the panicked streets. He'd managed to avoid the explosions, and he'd been just far enough away to watch the plane be shot down without being injured by the following explosion. The site of the crash was on his way home, and he paused to check if there was anyone needing help on his way through, even though it was a little difficult to see because the only real light source was the fires caused by the crash.

It had taken less than a glance at the wreckage for Tom to be certain that there was no hope for anyone who had been on board the plane. He made his way down the road, finding it hard to believe that this had really happened so close to home, on a street he knew so well. The plane had crashed into some houses, destroying at least one completely, and Tom could only hope that no one had been home when it hit. Looking for survivors, or people who needed help, Tom slowly continued on his journey home. He wasn't the only person offering help to the wounded, so he kept going down the street, until he spotted someone stirring under a small pile of debris a little further down. He rushed forwards, only to stop abruptly when he saw that it was Hal. After the initial shock resided he was at his son's side in an instant, his heart racing at the thought that he could be seriously hurt.

Hal wasn't alone, Tom quickly realised, as he was half lying on top of someone else; Matt. Tom quickly moved the debris away from his sons, and checked Hal over for injuries. Hal appeared to be fine, other than a few little cuts and scrapes from the debris from the explosion, although Tom gave the small cut on his head a closer look before determining that it wasn't serious. He helped his eldest son to sit up, and moved to check on Matt, who wasn't hurt at all. Tom held them both close with a sigh of relief.

Both Hal and Matt were extremely stunned after the explosion, but Hal managed to ask, "Where's mom?" Tom immediately released his sons, "She was with you?" he asked desperately, and Hal managed to nod, although the movement made him grimace in pain and hold his hand to his head. Tom's relief had instantly faded, being replaced by more desperate panic. He moved to get up and look for Rebecca, but Matt, with tears streaming down his face, clutched on to Tom's arm with such a fearful expression that it broke Tom's heart to shrug his hand away.

"I have to find your mom," Tom told him, "Stay with Hal. Don't move both of you, just stay here, and I promise I will come back with your mom." Just as he was about to move, he noticed Hal's eyes closing, and he shook him back into alertness.

"Hal, stay awake. You might have a concussion. Both of you have to stay awake, keep each other awake. Okay?" Tom's voice was as urgent as he could make it, given the amount of panic he was feeling.

"We'll be fine." Hal said, sounding a little more awake and more like himself. Even Matt managed a quiet "Okay," and behind the tears his face took on a more determined expression. Looking at his boys, both so scared and yet so brave in the middle of this… war zone, Tom almost couldn't bring himself to leave them alone. But he had to; he had to find his wife.

He found Rebecca not too far away, struggling underneath what appeared to be a part of the wing of the plane.

"Tom?" She asked incredulously, and then when she was sure she wasn't imagining him she continued, "Hal and Matt, you have to find them. I was holding their hands and then I don't know where they are. You have to find them!" She insisted, and Tom stroked her hair back from her face to calm her.

"They're okay, I found them, they're not hurt." Tom assured her, as he wiped away her tears.

"My leg's stuck." She told him, "I can't get out."

"I'll help, just lie still." Tom put all of his weight against the wing, and shifted it a little, but stopped at Rebecca's cry of pain, "I'm sorry, I can't lift it off, it's too heavy."

"I'll help." Tom turned in surprise to see that Hal and Matt had made their way over to their parents.

"Me too." Matt chimed in, his tears having slowed considerably.

"I told you to wait over there." Tom scolded, but with no real force. He knew he'd need Hal's assistance to help Rebecca, "But help me lift this, quickly." The two of them, with Matt's valuable contribution, managed to lift the piece of the plane's wing away from Rebecca, freeing her legs. She was able to move them with no problem, other than an injured ankle, and Tom sighed with relief thinking about how much worse it could have been.

With the sounds of the attack still clearly to be heard, they decided to get home as quickly as possible. With both Tom and Hal to lean on, Rebecca was able to walk fairly easily. Their street was eerily deserted when they reached it, despite looking essentially untouched by all that was going on. Tom hoped that was a good sign. He was finally able to breathe a little easier once their front door closed behind them. Hal sank into the sofa with his head in his hands, while Matt ran straight to the window to watch what was going on in the sky. Being home seemed to have perked him up a bit.

"Ben's not here"? Tom asked, "I thought that was why he wasn't with you?"

"He went to Nick's house," Rebecca reminded him, "I'm sure he's still there. They're sensible people, they'll look after him." She tried to sound confident for Hal and Matt, but inside she was terrified about what could be happening to her middle child while he wasn't with his family.

Tom sighed, before muttering, "I knew I should never have agreed to let him go," as he ran his hands through his hair, pacing backwards and forwards behind the sofa.

"My head is killing me." Hal complained, as Rebecca checked the wound gently.

"It's not that deep," she assured him, stroking his face to sooth him, "Come to the kitchen so I can clean it, and get you something for the pain." Tom moved to help her walk to the kitchen, but she gestured at Matt.

"I'm fine, I can use Hal to help me walk." She tried to smile, "That's what children are for, isn't it?" It was an old joke that she and Tom used whenever they needed one of their sons to do something for them, but all Tom could manage in response was a weak smile. As Rebecca limped to the kitchen, leaning on Hal, Tom walked over to Matt by the window.

"Hey, Matt, are you okay?" He asked, gently running his hand through his youngest son's hair.

"Did you see that plane crash? It almost hit us! I was trying to watch it when it hit the ground, but Hal pushed me away! But it was so cool!" Matt was talking very fast, seemingly having forgotten just how scared he had been not half an hour ago, or how close they had come to being seriously injured. Tom suspected that Matt might be in shock, and pulled him away from the window before his ramble could continue. He sat down on the sofa, pulling Matt onto his lap.

"I did see that plane, and I am so unbelievably glad that it didn't hit you. But it's very dangerous out there, and I need you to be brave for me. Stay inside, stay away from the windows, and just be careful, okay Matt?" He didn't want to scare Matt, but he wanted him to be fully aware of the dangers so that he wouldn't do anything reckless.

"What about Ben?" Matt asked, "Are we gonna go get him?" He looked up at Tom, his expression sad.

"We are Matt," Tom said with conviction, just before another explosion sounded, seemingly very close. Matt flinched into Tom, who held him close.

"We just need to wait for it all to die down a little, but then we will go and find Ben. We'll bring him home, and then we'll all be together as a family. As long as we have each other, we can get through anything."

...

**A/N: **I really hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

Thank you so much to j2addict, Bluestarshine, LeftHandedPeopleRule, 5-STAR and Grace Rio for your reviews, and to everyone who followed or favourite this! I was so nervous posting this, and it really made me smile to see that you liked it :) So thank you!

Guest (Grace Rio): Thank so much! I'm so glad you like it! :) I am indeed planning on bringing Karen into this – my intention is to run right up to the start of the pilot, so while I may do a few little time jumps I will introduce Karen, and Anne and Weaver and Lourdes and Jimmy ( :''''( ) and everyone who's in the pilot :)

Thank you so much to Bluestarshine for being so much help with this fic! :)

I'm also JoyScott13 on YouTube too, if you're at all interested in checking out my Falling Skies videos :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

It felt like days had passed since the attack began, but Tom knew it couldn't have been more than a couple of hours. Listening to the sounds of the attack outside, he could hardly believe that this was really happening. It felt like a dream, or a nightmare, and Tom wished he could just wake up. He held Matt close to him as they sat in silence, waiting for the explosions and crashes to finally stop. They'd closed the curtains in an attempt to block out the terrifying ships in the sky, but the room was still lit by the brief flashes of light that accompanied the explosions outside. Hal was trying to be brave, and to not show how terrified he was, but when Rebecca sat next to him and offered him her hand for some comfort, he'd gripped it tightly. Tom had wanted to break the silence, to reassure his family that everything was going to be okay, or at least to try to distract them from the horror of what was going on outside, but for once he couldn't think of anything to say. So the only sounds in the room where from the attack outside, Matt's occasional whimpers and Rebecca checking that Hal's head wasn't hurting too much. The explosions seemed to be further away now, and Tom could only assume that whatever was happening was focusing more directly on central Boston.

"Ben's friend, Nick? Where's his house? Is it near here, or closer to central Boston?" he asked, thinking out loud rather than addressing anyone in particular.

"It's further out than we are, away from central Boston." Rebecca answered immediately, "I'm sure he's fine, I'm sure they've hardly felt the effects of this attack at all." She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. Tom breathed a small sigh of relief; Ben had to be okay, he _had _to. He just wished he had his whole family together, and safe, for whatever that was worth in this changing world.

…

"Is it over?" Nick's little sister Anna asked in a small voice. It had been fairly quiet for the past few minutes, and Ben found himself hoping that maybe it, whatever _it _was, was actually over. He could be with his family again, and maybe things would eventually get back to normal, and he could go back to fighting with his brothers and bothering his mom with all his opinions on the latest book he was reading. But deep down Ben knew that the situation was much too serious for everything to return to normal. He knew that it was highly unlikely that normal would ever exist again and that life as he'd known it was probably gone for good. He wished he could stop his brain from going too far down that path.

"I'm not sure sweetie," After a moment's hesitation Nick's mother answered her daughter, "But we'll know soon."

"Yeah, no doubt there'll be an official announcement and explanation soon. The government will be handling this. It will all be okay." Nick's father sounded confident, and Ben couldn't help but think that he was being slightly delusional. From the brief look he'd had at the air battle earlier, the military had seemed to be losing heavily. He was pretty certain that the reason things seemed to by dying down out there was because the military had accepted defeat and given up, or that they'd been wiped out. The attackers had completed their objective, whatever that was, and now they could return to their base to continue with their plan. Ben couldn't see anything positive about this situation, or how it was all going to be okay, and he wondered if Nick's father actually believed what he was saying, or if he was just lying in an attempt to calm his children. Ben wished his father was there to reassure him with soothing lies.

"I'm scared." Anna whispered, burrowing further into Nick's arms for comfort. Immediately their parents were out of their seats and holding their children, and Ben felt a lump rise in his throat at the sight of their family pulling together to get each other through this terrible situation. He didn't know if his family were together and worrying about him, or trapped somewhere out there and alone, or if they were- Ben stopped his thoughts abruptly. The third option wasn't acceptable; his family had to be okay. There was no way anything bad could have happened to them, not even tonight.

As quietly as possible, so as not to disturb Nick's family, Ben made his way back over to the window. He pushed the curtains open a little, and scanned the sky for anything out of the ordinary. There weren't nearly as many ships in the sky as there had been earlier, and they didn't seem to be firing at anything anymore. They were all flying in the same direction, towards central Boston, where the large ship had crashed, or landed. Ben supposed his theory that they were returning to their base to prepare for their next move had some truth to it, and whilst he was glad the attack seemed to be over, he couldn't help but worry about that next move might be. The area around Nick's house hadn't been hit too hard, but when Ben looked in the direction of his school and his house he could see smoke rising from multiple fires, and it was evident that there'd been a lot more destruction in that direction. It was all Ben could do to hope that his family had made it out okay and unharmed.

…

"It's been quiet for ages now." Matt spoke for the first time in hours, his voice sounding tired and scared, "Is it safe now?" Tom's eyes met Rebecca's across the dark room, and they briefly conveyed their fear and uncertainty.

"I'm not sure Matt," Tom couldn't think of anything to say but the truth, "I hope so." He wished he could be more certain, he wished he could say something to reassure Matt and have it be the truth. All he could do was try to comfort Matt without lying to him or giving him false hope. He kissed the top of Matt's head, and held him closer. Hal meanwhile jumped out of his seat and, ignoring Rebecca's protests that it wasn't safe and that they should stay back from the windows, he pulled the curtains open and looked out.

"They're retreating." He declared, turning to look back at his parents, "They aren't attacking anymore. That means we can go get Ben, right?" He paused for a moment, waiting for them to respond and when they didn't he continued, "Dad, you said when it died down we'd go get him. It's died down." After sharing another quick look with Rebecca, Tom passed Matt over to his wife, and came to join Hal at the window.

"It does look like it's quieter." He agreed, and on almost auto-pilot he made his way into the kitchen to grab a flashlight. He re-entered the living room to find that Rebecca was now standing and shaking her head.

"No way Hal, it's not safe out there." Her tone was firm.

"It's not safe out there for me, but its okay for dad to go?" Hal protested, "Ben's my brother, I'm going with dad to get him."

"It's too dangerous." Rebecca insisted, and Tom nodded in agreement.

"I'll be fine on my own; it's no use risking more of us. I need you to stay here and look after your mom and Ben."

"Do you even know where Nick lives? Or how to get there?" Hal asked, his eyes lighting up as he realised he'd found a valid point to argue, "Nick lives just down the street from Julian, I could walk there in my sleep".

"Your mom can write me directions, I'll find it." Tom argued. He knew it would be a help to have Hal with him, but if something went wrong he didn't want to put Hal in more danger than necessary. It was already killing him that he didn't know for certain if Ben was safe or not.

"Hal, you're injured, your head-" Rebecca started, but Hal cut her off.

"My head's fine!" He insisted, "And dad will just get lost."

"Stop arguing!" Matt's little voice broke through the discussion, "Arguing isn't helping Ben."

Tom sighed, running his hands through his hair, "You're right Matt."

"I'm going dad," Hal stated, "We'll get to him quicker if I show you the way. And if he's hurt-" Hal paused for a moment, and Tom felt a stab of fear at the thought, "If he's hurt then it will be easier for two of us to help him than one. I'm going."

"Okay." Rebecca nodded, finally acknowledging that Hal had a point, and that as much as she hated it, it would be safer for both Tom and Ben if Hal went too. "I'll go get you some water, and the first aid kit, although I hope you won't need it." She gave Hal's arm a supportive squeeze, before hurrying to the kitchen.

"We go quickly, and avoid trouble, okay?" Tom looked at Hal, who nodded, "We go straight to Nick's house, get your brother, and then we come straight home."

Hal grinned, "It'll be easy." Tom was about to make yet another comment about it being important not to be too confident, when Matt piped up again.

"And I'll come too."

Hal laughed "No way buddy, you have to be this high to take part in our rescue mission." He held his hand up high over Matt's head, and Matt shoved him away with a glare. Tom crouched down to be on Matt's eye level.

"I need you to stay here Matt." Matt started to protest, but Tom shushed him and continued, "It's important. I need you to look after your mom, I know she's scared, like we all are, and I know she'll be worried about me and your brothers. That's why I need you to stay here for her. Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah, dad. I can do that." Matt said, his expression deadly serious. Rebecca came back into the room, handing Tom a bag that he knew would be packed with water and the first aid kit and some food and anything else that they could possibly need. He quickly added the flashlight. Matt walked over to his mom, and took her hand.

"We'll be okay here, you go get Ben." His voice wasn't scared anymore, but determined. Tom gave his wife a quick kiss, before pulling his youngest son into an embrace, and telling them both that he loved them. Hal let his mom kiss his cheek and hug him briefly, before he pulled away and ruffled Matt's hair, confidently declaring, "Let's go get Ben."

…

**A/N: **

Okay, so I can't even begin to apologise for how long it's taken me to reply! Life got hectic, and I move back to uni tomorrow to start my second year so I've been really busy, and then I kinda hit writers block which I have to blame on the hiatus… it's really starting to get to me! So I am so so sorry! I promise I'll try to not leave it for so long in future, but the only thing that I can guarantee is that I will never give up on this story!

I'm sorry if this chapter isn't that good, or that not much happens, but I wanted to get across how they were all feeling, to help me break through my writers block!

I'm starting to get used to typing 'mom', but in this chapter it was 'flashlight' that really got to me… it's a torch! I apologise, as always, if I make the Masons sound too English, but I do my best :)

Thank you so much to FallingSkiesxxxHalMason and Bluestarshine for your lovely reviews, I'm sorry I didn't update sooner but getting reviews really makes my day :)


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